We Are All Special

All day, every day, I have encounters with people claiming that they are special in some way.

Some of these people are at pains to prove that they are special, and so, they trot out all sorts of facts about themselves or some group that they belong to and the guts of their recitation is always reducible to: “I am special because….” followed by any variation of reasons: because I have suffered, because I am black, because I am white, because my ancestors lived here the longest, because I believe in Allah, because I believe in Christ, because I am heir to some ancient treaty, because, because, because….

The other people who claim to be special do it in a different way. They attempt to order me around and command me and tell me what to do and what to believe, that is, they attempt to prove that they are special by force or by displays of wealth or power of some sort.

They don’t know the Truth.

The Truth is that they are special by definition, because each one is utterly unique, a tribe of one, handcrafted, beloved, irreplaceable. And that’s all you need to be, to be “special” in the most profound way imaginable. More than that, each one is a Child of God, the inheritor of all dominion over the Earth, born a King or a Queen of such vast riches and power as to stagger the imagination. What use have such beings for proving that they are special?

They simply are.

So how do we get involved in this False Argument and waste so much time and so many resources on this game of “I am special because….” —- when it is perfectly obvious that you are special to begin with?

And so am I.

And it isn’t because we are black, white, Jewish, Catholic, Native American, came from the oldest family in Bohemia or eat lentils on Tuesday.

It is because of our One Each nature that we are special. All the rest is illusory, some kind of external projection of our “specialness” on others, that occurs to the extent that we recognize ourselves reflected in others.

We think, oh, they are special because they are like us! (And therefore, we are special because we are like them….) But at a slightly higher level of perception we see ourselves reflected in everyone and it all comes down to this: we are all special because we are all absolutely unique, and, at the same time, we are like everyone else, because we are all part of the Family of Man.

Is that so very hard to understand?

At the same time that I struggle every day with people trying to prove or force me to acknowledge how special they are — a fact that I already freely recognize and grant — I struggle with people who assume that I am special for reasons that I am not.

When I took the first step on the path I am on now, I did it in gratitude to God. I realized I had been blessed and I said, “Here I am. You must have had a reason, something you want me to do?”

People are missing a very crucial part of the Bible story. God, the True God, never forces us to do anything. He didn’t force David to take up his sling, nor did He force Jesus to take up his cross.

No, David said, “I will go face Goliath.” He did it of his own free will. In the same way, Jesus prayed that the cup would pass from him, but when it didn’t, He accepted it the same way his Mother accepted it when she said, “Behold, I am the Lord’s Handmaiden. Let it be done unto me…”

We choose to offer ourselves to be the servants and champions of God, and then, God chooses us to be His servants and champions because we have agreed. Our agreement comes first. All else follows afterward.

Then it comes, that David, a poor shepherd boy strikes down Goliath and becomes a King. Then it happens, that a woman risks her life and her reputation and the man she loves and becomes the Queen of Heaven. Then it happens that a carpenter from Galilee rises up to be immortal.

We call these things miracles beyond all reckoning, and they are, but what is really happening is that in every case, a man or woman opened their heart in gratitude and love and gave back to God their willingness to serve and go and be and do.

I made my commitment. I said, “Here I am, Lord.”

And then in the next breath, I thought— “Boy, this is ridiculous. As if I can do anything? Look at me! I am a woman and an old woman at that…. Not rich as the world counts it…. Living in this tiny little town in Alaska….” It was laughable. It is laughable. Yes, it is ridiculous to conceive of me as a threat to the government, much less the whole Kingdom of Satan.

I have no strength or beauty that is not faded, no armies, no riches, no power, no political party, no organization at all standing behind me. Yet it delights the Living God to raise up the weak and lowly against the power and expectations of kings and princes.

Goliath laughed. The members of the Sanhedrin laughed—right up until the curtain in the temple was ripped in half. The members of Parliament laughed at the “half-naked Fakir” named Gandhi. I am sure that Wall Street is laughing and the snide, pompous members of Congress, too.

They can’t imagine the power of God that lives within me. They can’t conceive of the army that God is building from out of every place, every race, sex, age, color and creed. They don’t know that the reign of Satan is ending, yet I am here to tell you this is so.

We, the people, the small and the old, the weak and the infirm, the poor and the ignorant and the silly, meek, humble, unlikely and wretched, we shall make it so. Out of our poverty we shall declare riches, and from our losses we shall find great gain, and the power of God will stand over us like a flame. His storehouses of unseen bread will feed us. We shall walk and not be tired; we shall run and not be lame. Our land is already healing.

Satan shall be cast down and in my time shall not rise again.

And none of this is because of my strength or any “special” quality I possess. Rather, it is because I and millions of others will say, “Yes, here I am, Lord. I am ready.” We will take our slings and meet Goliath. We will raise our voices and Truth will spill from our mouths. We will find our way forward, guided by Wisdom that is so much greater than ourselves.

I stand with Jesus and Buddha and Gandhi and all those others who have said enough of suffering, lies, and death and poverty of any kind. I stand with them because I know they are right in the same way that I know 7 – 7 = 0. Their Truth is mathematical fact.

You cannot return evil for evil and do anything but create more evil.

You cannot stand here and with one breath denounce the “Doctrine of Discovery” and with the next breath offer it as the reason that, because your ancestors discovered America several thousand years earlier than Christopher Columbus, the same false and illogical “Doctrine of Discovery” should be applied in favor of your claims to own the land and disinherit everyone else.

You cannot stand here and with one breath plead your long-suffering and the prejudices that have hurt you, and with the next breath offer to make others suffer and to subject them to your prejudices, too.

You cannot say that you serve the Lord of Life and with the next breath advocate policies and ideas that lead to wholesale slaughter, all based on greed and desire for vengeance.

You cannot stand here and say that our government is in “interregnum” when we never left.

You cannot say that we or anyone else are owed “postliminium rights” when we have not been conquered but only set upon by criminals and pirates who were allowed to pillage us by unfaithful trustees.

These are all facts. Truths. There is no avoiding them.

No, each one of you needs to consider why you are special. What great mystery created you and brought you to be here now? And what will your answer be to God when the choice is yours?

Will you say, “Here I am, Lord.”— or will you hide from the Truth and run away, never understanding why you are special?